The U.S. economy grew at a 2.3% annualized rate in the final three months of 2024, the Commerce Department said on Thursday — closing out a year of strong growth.

Why it matters: Despite some lost momentum at the end of the year, President Trump still inherits an economy expanding at a healthy clip, even as interest rates and inflation remain elevated. 

By the numbers: The fourth-quarter growth figures are a slowdown from the 3.1% rate in the previous three-month period.

• Consumer spending and government spending picked up pace, though the higher trade deficit and a slowdown in business investment weighed on growth.
• Housing activity bounced back, after two straight quarters that the sector dragged growth down.

The big picture: Last year was yet another period that defied economists' growth expectations. But either way you measure growth last year, it was still a slower than 2023.

• By one measure, annual growth increased 2.8% in 2024, a small dip relative to the of 2.9% in 2023.

The big picture: The Federal Reserve took measures to loosen its grip on the economy in the second half of the year. The central bank cut rates by a full percentage point as inflation receded and the unemployment rate inched up.

• Since the Fed's initial interest rate cut, conditions have reversed. Progress on inflation has slowed and the labor market has bounced back.
• That is a key reason the Fed kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday. Fed chair Jerome Powell said the economy was healthy and the central bank could afford to take its time in deciding its next move.
• "We see things as in a really good place for policy and for the economy," Powell told reporters at a news conference. "We feel like we don't need to be in a hurry to make any adjustments."

What to watch: Fed officials and some economists caution that huge uncertainty about Trump's policies — tax, trade and immigration — make it difficult to forecast how the economy may fare in the months ahead.

Go deeper: About that 2022 "technical recession"

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with details on the GDP report.

Eight hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were released on Thursday as part of the ceasefire deal.

Why it matters: The release was an important benchmark: There are now no more women who are believed to be alive that are held hostage by Hamas.

Driving the news: Thursday's exchange took place in two stages and in two different parts of Gaza.

• Agam Berger, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped during the October 7 attack and held hostage by Hamas since then, was released first in Gaza city.
• Later two other Israeli civilians — Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses — were released in Khan Younis near the destroyed house of the deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
• Moses, who is 80 years old, is the first man who was released by Hamas since October 7.
• Five Thai nationals who were kidnapped by Hamas from Israel on October 7 were also released.
• The Thai nationas — Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat and Rumnao Surasak — were released after in-direct negotiations between their government and Hamas via Qatar and Egypt.

State of play: During the release in Khan Younis the two Israelis were paraded among the huge crowd that gathered in a scene that quickly turned chaotic.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel protested to the mediators Qatar and Egypt for the way the release took place, which he said, endangered the safety of the hostages.
• The Israeli government retaliated by delaying the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners by several hours.
• Netanyahu said Israel won't release the Palestinian prisoners without assurances from the mediators that the next hostage releases will not be as chaotic as Thursday's.
• Hamas said the huge crowds that gathered signaled the group's popularity in Gaza and the support it has among to local population.

What they are saying: White House envoy Steve Witkoff met on Thursday in Israel with four women soldiers who were released last Saturday.

• He then visited the hostages square in Tel Aviv and met with families of hostages who are still held in Gaza.
• Witkoff told the families that President Trump is committed to bringing back home all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including the bodies of dead hostages.

What's next: Witkoff told reporters that an American hostage is expected to be released Friday.

• The next release is scheduled for Saturday with three hostages expected to come out of Gaza. It wasn't clear whether Witkoff misspoke or whether the release would be expedited.

Authorities have said there are likely no survivors from a tragic plane crash near Reagan National Airport outside D.C., late Wednesday night.

The big picture: John Donnelly, chief of D.C. Fire and EMS, told reporters Thursday: "We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation."

• An American Airlines passenger jet with 64 people on board collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers, sending both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River.
• "At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter," he told reporters.
• The airport resumed flight operations at 11am ET, but dozens of flights were delayed or canceled. Passengers were advised to check with their airlines for specific flight information.

Catch up quick: Remnants of the two aircrafts have been discovered, including the fuselage of the American Airlines plane, which was found in three sections in "waist-deep" water, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said at a press briefing Thursday morning.

• Frantic rescue operations along the frigid river began soon after the crash at around 9pm ET. Around 300 people were involved in those efforts, Donnelly said.

Speculation mounts on "absolute tragedy"

"Everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash," Duffy said, while declining to speculate about where things went so tragically wrong.

• Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth said in a video statement Thursday that the Army unit involved in the collision, the 12th Aviation Battalion, had been placed on a 48-hour operational pause while the incident is reviewed.
• Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said Thursday morning that National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash.
• President Trump's Army Sec. nominee Dan Driscoll called the incident an "absolute tragedy" during a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. He added: "I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan."

How the crash happened

American Eagle Flight 5342 traveling from Wichita was approaching DCA, sometimes described as having "America's busiest runway."

• Visibility was good at the time of the crash, with winds blowing out of the northwest. An advisory for high winds had expired earlier in the evening.
• Both the jet and the helicopter were following "standard flight patterns," Duffy told reporters.
• Hegseth noted that the helicopter had been manned by a "fairly experienced crew" that was appropriately equipped with night vision goggles.

The U.S. Army UH-60 helicopter was on a training exercise out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a Pentagon spokesperson said.

• The helicopter was told to maintain visual separation with the plane — essentially, "see and avoid," Axios aviation expert Alex Fitzpatrick notes. That's not an unusual procedure, despite a Truth Social post from President Trump questioning why the control tower hadn't given more direct instructions.
• It's also not unusual to see Black Hawks flying low along the Potomac. This is some of America's busiest airspace due to the presence of both military and commercial aircraft.
• An aviation battalion based at Ft. Belvoir is responsible for transporting senior military and government officials and also conducts training flights around the D.C. area, per DOD News.
• "This was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and an aircraft landing at DCA," Duffy said.

What remains unclear is why the military aircraft did not divert from its path and collided with the jet as it made its final descent.

• "Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely," Duffy said, without offering specifics.

Who was on board

A figure skating group said skaters, coaches and their families were on the flight following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Telegram that Russian figure skaters and other citizens were on board.

• U.S. Figure Skating confirmed "several" of its members were on board.
• The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, while the Black Hawk was carrying three soldiers.

Recovery operations continue

Recovery efforts are ongoing in and around the Potomac. Based on an initial count, around 30 people had yet to be recovered as of Thursday morning.

• Dive teams scoured the site as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in a methodical search for bodies, AP reports.

Deadly plane crashes in the U.S.

Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the U.S. have become a rarity.

• The last was in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. All 49 passengers and crew above Colgan Air Flight 3407 were killed when the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane crashed into a house. A person on the ground also was killed.
• Other than the Pentagon attack on 9/11, last night's collision is the worst air tragedy in the D.C. area since the Air Florida Flight 90 crash on Jan. 13, 1982, which killed 78 when it hit the 14th Street Bridge and crashed into the Potomac.
• Duffy claimed that American airspace remains the safest in the world.

This story has been updated throughout and will continue to be updated as new information comes in.

OpenAI's Sam Altman is making the rounds in D.C. on Thursday in an attempt to show unity with President Trump and announce a new initiative to make sure the government has the most capable AI.

Why it matters: Tech companies see an opportunity in the new Trump administration to shape AI policy.

Driving the news: Altman is in D.C. to give lawmakers, their staff, White House personnel and federal agency officials a first look at new technology, a source familiar told Axios.

• Infrastructure investors and advocates will also see the tech before it's released publicly.

Behind the scenes: Altman and OpenAI's Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil will preview new AI capabilities coming in Q1 and focus on how those capabilities will support science, education, health and government services.

• This is the second week in a row Altman is in D.C. after attending Trump's inauguration and announcing Stargate — a partnership among companies including OpenAI to invest billions in AI development.

Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier will sit down with President Trump for a pre-taped interview at Mar-a-Lago that will air during the network's Super Bowl LIX pregame show, Fox News confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: The four biggest U.S. broadcasters — Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC, air the Super Bowl on a rotating schedule. Trump's first Super Bowl back in office coinciding with Fox's broadcast this year is fortuitous, given the president's friendly relationship with the network.

• The tradition of presidents being interviewed during the Super Bowl pregame show by journalists from the game's host network goes back to 2004. Trump upended the tradition by skipping the pregame interview with NBC in 2018.
• Former President Biden skipped pre-game interviews for the past two years. He opted out of an interview with Fox News in 2023 and CBS News in 2024.

The big picture: The interview follows a dizzying two weeks of headlines around Trump's swift efforts to repeal Biden-era policies and introduce a slew of his own.

• Fox has not offered details about the length of the conversation but said the interview will be wide-ranging.

Flashback: The last time Trump was interviewed by Fox during its Super Bowl pregame show was in 2020 when anchor Sean Hannity sat down with him at Mar-a-Lago.

• Trump was interviewed by former Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly at the White House for a Super Bowl pregame interview in 2017.

What to watch: The Super Bowl is expected to drive big ratings for Fox.

• Sunday's AFC Championship nail-biter between the Buffalo Bills and reigning Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs averaged a record 57.7 million viewers on CBS.
• The Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles, who they narrowly defeated for the Super Bowl title just two years ago.
• The NFL has seen a spike in female viewers ever since Chiefs' star Travis Kelce started dating pop icon Taylor Swift in 2023.
• Fox has sold out its Super Bowl advertising inventory, with nearly a dozen spots selling for a record $8 million.

A workforce discombobulated by chaotic recent events receives an email with the subject line "Fork in the Road." Inside, a deadline to quit or commit to the new mission.

• That's the scenario Twitter employees faced in Nov. 2022 — and the one now confronting some 2.3 million government workers.

Why it matters: If Musk's takeover of Washington is anything like his takeover of Twitter, federal workers — and Americans more generally — had better buckle up. His "slash first, ask questions later" management style has already been reflected in some of President Trump's biggest moves.

The big picture: Federal workers received that email on Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management, effectively the executive branch's HR department.

• The upper echelons of that fairly obscure agency are now packed with Musk allies and loyalists, many of whom have worked at his companies or in tech more broadly, the NYT reports.
• Cutting the federal workforce is part of Musk's mandate at DOGE, and he appears to see the OPM — which he visited last Friday — as a key vehicle.
• The email, scooped by Axios, gave federal workers nine days to quit and be paid through September or embrace a new "performance culture" — and accept the risk their jobs could be cut or downsized later. It had Musk's fingerprints all over it.

Flashback: Some Twitter employees who left in the chaotic period after Musk purchased the company, renamed it X and fired or drove out thousands of workers say they were promised severance packages that failed to materialize. Some have sued, Axios' Scott Rosenberg notes.

• There are key differences here: Musk doesn't own the U.S. government and can't just order mass firings. Also, many federal workers belong to unions.
• "We are all shaking our heads in disbelief at how familiar this all feels," former top Twitter engineer Yao Yue told WIRED. "Except, the federal government and its employees have specific laws in terms of spending, hiring, and firing."

State of play: Some unions and Democratic lawmakers have urged workers not to take the buyouts.

• "If you accept that offer and resign, he'll stiff you," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) warned, referring to Trump's history of refusing to pay contractors.
• The offer also sparked immediate concerns about how government departments will continue to function properly if large numbers of highly knowledgeable workers leave.

Similar "brain drain" concerns loomed large over the Twitter saga.

• While Musk and his allies claimed vindication in how Twitter continued to function after the employee exodus, the platform was plagued by tech glitches and frustrations over the non-responsive support team.
• Musk ultimately asked some employees he fired to come back, and some blue chip advertisers fled the platform after Musk's radical changes.
• Still, the site survived and X today undoubtedly remains a powerful platform — albeit a very different one.

Zoom out: Applying such radical, sudden changes at the scale of the federal government is far more difficult — as the second Trump administration learned this week when it issued then rescinded a sweeping memo freezing hundreds of billions in spending.

False rumors and panic have hit cities coast to coast after federal authorities began a nationwide immigration crackdown, prompting advocates and community leaders to warn people to seek reliable sources of information and keep calm.

Why it matters: Misinformation can ripple through already tense communities, leading to people staying home from work and school.

State of play: Within a couple days of the Trump administration announcing it would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to conduct enforcement in schools, a false report that ICE offers had showed up to a Chicago elementary school was shared in news reports and even by the governor.

• A similar rumor spread in Philadelphia, prompting the School District of Philadelphia, home to over 198,000 students, to release a statement denying that ICE had been in schools.
• In San Francisco, a middle schooler's claim she'd encountered an ICE agent on a city bus set off panic among parents and others in the city, per a report in the San Francisco Standard.

In immigrant communities in Colorado, online posts warning of raids spread quickly before local police stepped in, saying they were not aware of any action.

• And in Boston on Tuesday, leaders of the Boston Children's Hospital reassured the public that ICE had not raided the facility after several popular social media accounts reposted a false rumor.

What they're saying: "Misinformation is really dangerous because it creates panic and it creates chaos in any community, and immigrant communities are no different," says Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP).

• "I think that part of what is so difficult about this moment for so many immigrants around the United States is that a lot of the executive orders, a lot of the policy changes that are being announced are really not clear."

Between the lines: Top Trump administration officials have made contradictory statements about whether ICE raids would target people with criminal records, or anyone in the country illegally.

• Immigration officials have also not offered specifics as to the circumstances under which they would attempt to arrest someone at a school, for example.
• Whether by design or not, that ambiguity is feeding into the climate of fear and confusion.

President Trump is pushing legal boundaries by design — testing the limits of his own power and the willingness of a conservative high court to enhance it.

Why it matters: Trump's shock-and-awe agenda is setting in motion multiple future Supreme Court showdowns. These legal challenges threaten to scuttle some of his priorities and delay parts of his swift, decisive show of force.

State of play: The White House yesterday rescinded a freeze on trillions of dollars in federal grants — two days after it was issued, and one day after a judge temporarily prevented it from taking effect.

• The freeze had sparked enormous on-the-ground confusion, and reignited a long-simmering legal debate about whether presidents have the power to refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated.
• That's a serious constitutional question only the Supreme Court can ultimately answer.

Between the lines: The spending freeze was on a fast track to the high court the moment it was signed. The White House backed down this time, but it's prepared — and in many cases, eager — to fight many of these fights all the way to the end.

Trump's efforts to end birthright citizenship through an executive order have also been blocked in court.

• "This is a blatantly unconstitutional order," said U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of Seattle, who put a temporary stay on Trump's plans.
• Multiple suits over the citizenship order have been filed in multiple jurisdictions. So there'll be more rulings on the issue as it works its way toward the Supreme Court.

Legal experts largely think the Justice Department will have a hard time constructing a case against birthright citizenship.

• The 14th Amendment says, in part, that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States … are citizens of the United States." That has long been read as establishing birthright citizenship.

But in other areas, the Trump administration will be on much friendlier terrain.

• Inspectors general fired by Trump last week have argued their dismissals were illegal, citing federal oversight laws.
• But taking those claims to court could backfire. The Supreme Court's conservative majority generally takes an expansive view of presidential power, including the power to fire senior executive branch officials.

Zoom in: Unions representing government workers have filed multiple suits challenging Schedule F — the executive order that strips civil-service protections from scores of federal employees, making it easier for Trump (or any president) to fire them.

• Trump's efforts to slash the bureaucracy depend heavily on Schedule F — which means they'll depend on the outcome of those cases.

What to watch: Liberal advocacy organizations have sued over Trump's surprise decision to give DOGE, initially conceived as an outside advisory group, a home inside the government. That can't happen without congressional approval, they argue.

• There's also a suit pending over Trump's order on transgender inmates. More civil-rights cases are sure to arise as the White House and federal agencies further roll back diversity programs and protections for LGBTQ people.
• Some Trump spending cuts could also end up in court.

The bottom line: Almost everything of any significance the Trump administration does, or attempts to do, will end up in court. In less than two weeks, it has already touched off two fights that would likely put enormous constitutional questions before the Supreme Court.

• There will be many, many more.

Rescue teams were combing the Potomac River after a plane carrying 64 people and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday night.

The big picture: Both the American Airlines regional jet that was flying from Wichita, Kansas, to D.C. and the helicopter was carrying three people while on a training exercise were in the river, officials said.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with more photos and further details on the collision.

Top congressional Democrats smell blood over President Trump's federal spending freeze.

Why it matters: The base is loving the party's muscular signs of life and wants more. Phone lines lit up in Democratic offices on Wednesday, sources told Axios.

• "This is only the beginning," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told House Dems on an emergency call Wednesday afternoon.
• House Democrats are planning a "day of action" Thursday on the funding freeze, even after the White House withdrew the memo and blamed media coverage for the public's confusion.

Zoom in: The Trump White House is in retreat.

• Top Trump advisers said the memo was an unforced error and skipped the proper channels, the N.Y. Times reported on Wednesday.

Now, Democrats will try to turn the public backlash into durable opposition to other (and more popular) parts of his agenda.

• Senate Dems will flood the floor into the overnight hours Wednesday night with speeches about the dangers of Trump's move.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has demanded the creation of "strike teams" to combat the budget reconciliation plan by Republicans, sources tell Axios.

The bottom line: After weeks of internal frustration over his leadership, Schumer has taken a heavier hand.

• Schumer obsesses over issue polling and privately acknowledges that some of Trump's priorities play well with voters.
• But the magnitude and scope of the OMB memo jumped out to Schumer and leadership as a massive overstep by Trump.

President Trump on Wednesday announced an order to open a detention center at Guantanamo Bay to house up to 30,000 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally.

The big picture: Trump made the announcement just before signing the Laken Riley Act, which requires the detention of undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes such as theft.

Driving the news: "We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people," Trump said.

• "We don't want them coming back so we're going to send them out to Guantanamo," he continued.

Zoom in: There were still 15 prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay as of the Pentagon's Jan. 6 update, but a separate facility will hold immigrants.

• The White House directed the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security "to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity."

Zoom out: Holding immigrants in facilities is by far the largest cost of the deportation process.

• An Axios review of various estimates put yearly detention costs at $66 billion under Trump's possible mass deportation plan.
• ICE only has about 38,000 people in detention — prioritizing noncitizens the border patrol arrested at the Southwest border and noncitizens with criminal histories, according to ICE's annual report.

A backlog of 3.7 million cases in immigration courts, where immigrants are entitled to make their case to stay in the country, means detained immigrants could wait months, if not years, for their hearing.

• To hold more people from a raid surge would require a mass building project of "soft detention" centers, or temporary facilities, to house people.
• The Trump administration will have to award private contracts to build such detention centers, and offer health care and education to detainees.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details from the White House's order.

Go deeper: All undocumented immigrants are "criminals," Trump administration says

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempted to walk back his past anti-vaccine and pro-abortion rights stances in his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday as he fielded questions from both sides of the aisle.

The big picture: In his hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Kennedy characterized himself as pro-vaccine, despite years of denialism, and took a Trump-aligned, leave-it-to-the-states stance on abortion.

• It was an attempt to quell the bipartisan scrutiny he is under while navigating an uncertain path to Senate confirmation. He can lose only three GOP votes if all Senate Democrats vote against him.

Here are five key moments from Kennedy's closely watched Senate hearing.

1. Kennedy doesn't say how he'd reform Medicaid

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a doctor whose stance on Kennedy has been closely watched, repeatedly pressed the HHS nominee on how he'd reform Medicaid and how he would approach dual eligibles — people who are entitled to both Medicare and Medicaid.

• Kennedy's answers were vague — he said he'd increase "transparency" and "accountability" and transition to a "value-based system" rather than a "fee-based system."
• He said his approach to dual eligibles was to make sure the programs were "integrated."

Yes, but: In the exchange, he fumbled by saying Medicaid was "fully paid for" by the federal government.

• Medicaid, a program that provides coverage to some 72 million Americans, is funded by both states and the federal government.

2. Kennedy says he's not "anti-vaccine"

Kennedy argued in his opening statement that he is not "anti-vaccine" or "anti-industry" but rather "pro-safety."

• But while he repeatedly assured he was not against vaccines, he did not disavow his past statements.
• He defended petitioning the FDA to revoke its authorization of COVID-19 vaccines, saying the group he founded, Children's Health Defense, brought the petition after the CDC recommended COVID shots "without any scientific basis" for 6-year-old children.
• Kennedy falsely argued 6-year-olds have "basically zero risk" from COVID.

Kennedy faced a barrage of questions over his past anti-vaccine statements, with several lawmakers zooming in on accusations — including from his own cousin — that he was connected to a Samoa measles outbreak.

• The outbreak began on the heels of an accident when two babies died after nurses mixed MMR vaccine doses with a muscle relaxant. Concerns about the MMR vaccine's safety prompted the prime minister to halt the vaccination program.
• Kennedy traveled to Samoa, where he met with officials and a farmer who was later arrested for spreading vaccine misinformation, per the New York Times.
• Asked by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) if he accepted any responsibility for what happened in Samoa, Kennedy said "absolutely not."

3. RFK Jr.: "Every abortion is a tragedy"

Kennedy fielded questions about his past support for abortion rights during the hearing.

• He frequently returned to the same refrain: He agrees with Trump that "every abortion is a tragedy."
• "I agree with him that the states should control abortion," he added during questioning from Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).

He also revealed President Trump had directed him to study the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone, though the president has not yet taken a public stance on how to regulate it since taking office.

• Kennedy's response hints at how the HHS under Trump may approach medication abortion, which accounted for about two out of three abortions performed in the U.S. in 2023.

Flashback: Kennedy's exact stance on abortion access has fluctuated over the years — in 2023, he suggested he'd support a 15-week ban, but he later walked back that statement, per the Washington Post.

4. Dems question ties to anti-vax groups

One of the breakout questions from Wednesday's hearing came from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): "Are you supportive of these onesies?"

• Sanders displayed photos of two infant onesies sporting anti-vax messages sold by CHD.
• "I have no power over that organization," Kennedy said of CHD. He formally resigned as chairman in December.

Zoom out: Warren blasted Kennedy over his ties with Wisner Baum, a law firm currently leading litigation against pharmaceutical company Merck over the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

• Warren questioned whether Kennedy would continue to collect compensation from lawsuits he referred against drug companies while serving as HHS secretary and for four years after, to which Kennedy replied, "I'll certainly commit that while I'm secretary."
• According to his filings with the Office of Government Ethics, Kennedy would still receive 10% of fees awarded "in contingency fee cases referred to the firm," NPR reported.

5. RFK Jr. says he will "absolutely" support PEPFAR

Asked by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) if he'd commit to supporting the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, Kennedy said he'd "absolutely" support the program and work to strengthen it.

• In asking the question, Cornyn described PEPFAR as "one of the most successful public health programs in the world" that, if halted, would risk ceding leadership to adversaries.

Yes, but: When the Trump administration broadly paused foreign aid last week, it also meant freezing the global health program credited with saving millions of lives.

Go deeper: RFK's dueling personas take center stage

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Sen. Bill Cassidy represents Louisiana (not Idaho) and to include the correct abbreviation for Children's Health Defense.

An American Airlines regional passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in midair near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday night, officials said, citing preliminary reports.

The latest: Emergency respondents were now "switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," D.C. Fire and EMS Department chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing Thursday morning.

• "At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter," Donnelly added.
• Remnants of the two aircrafts have been discovered, including the fuselage of the American Airlines plane, which was found in three sections, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said at a press briefing Thursday morning.

State of play: Duffy added that the U.S. still "absolutely" had the safest airspace in the world.

• The cause of the crash is still under investigation. "Something went wrong here," Duffy acknowledged, though he stressed that both aircrafts' flight paths in the lead up to the collision were standard for the D.C. airspace and that there hadn't been a communication breakdown.
• A little over 14 hours after the collision, the airport can "safely" reopen at 11am, said Jack Potter, head of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

The big picture: The American Eagle Flight 5342 was en route from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, per a statement on American Airlines' website about the incident involving its subsidiary airline.

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared a statement on X just after midnight Thursday from a Defense Department spokesperson saying the U.S. Army UH-60 helicopter was on a training exercise out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, when the incident happened.

Zoom in: The collision prompted a ground stop and Reagan Washington National Airport said on X all takeoffs and landings had been "halted at DCA."

• A figure skating group said on X that skaters, coaches and their families were on the flight following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Telegram that Russian figure skaters and other citizens were on board.

What they're saying: President Trump thanked first responders in an emailed statement late Wednesday and said that he'd been "fully briefed on the terrible accident," adding: "May God Bless their souls."

• Trump made clear on Truth Social early Thursday that he's seeking answers on how the collision happened, saying: "This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented."

What we're watching: Donnelly said at an early Thursday morning briefing some 300 responders were at the scene, where temperatures were expected to be below freezing overnight.

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X her department was "deploying every available" U.S. Coast Guard resource for search and rescue efforts.
• The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate the incident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board, with the latter leading the probe.

Background: Reagan Washington National Airport is owned by the federal government and operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which serves the D.C. metropolitan area.

• It's an American Airlines hub that provides nonstop flights to 102 domestic destinations and six international destinations, per the airport's website.

Flashback: Wednesday's collision is the worst air tragedy in the D.C. area since the Air Florida Flight 90 crash on Jan. 13, 1982.

• The plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge after take off from Reagan Washington National Airport, killing 70 passengers, four crew members and four people in vehicles on the bridge over the Potomac River.

Go deeper: In photos: Crews search Potomac River after air crash near Reagan airport

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management issued guidance Wednesday instructing federal agencies on how to carry out President Trump's executive order targeting transgender protections.

Why it matters: It's the latest in a series of moves aimed at stripping away civil rights and protections from transgender Americans in policies that will also greatly impact nonbinary people. 

Details: The memo instructs heads of government departments and agencies to do the following, no later than 5pm Friday:

• Notify employees whose job descriptions include initiatives relating to gender ideology that they're being put on administrative leave;
• Ensure intimate spaces designed for women are designated by biological sex rather than gender identity;
• Turn off emails settings that ask users for gender pronouns;
• Disband employee resource groups that "inculcate or promote gender ideology;"
• And ensure all forms say "sex" instead of "gender."

Between the lines: The guidance on designating intimate spaces by biological sex could lay the foundation for banning transgender people from using restrooms in federal buildings that align with their gender identity.

• Office of Personnel Management did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on the subject Wednesday evening.

Catch up quick: Trump took the first step toward rolling back protections for transgender people on his first day of his term, signing an executive order that the federal government would only recognize two sexes — male and female.

• As such, only those two sexes will be recognized for official documents such as passports and visas.
• "'Sex' is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of 'gender identity,'" the order stated.

More from Axios:

• Trump targets transgender protections in new executive order
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The Democratic Party is the most unpopular it's been in polling that dates back to 2008, according to a new survey from Quinnipiac University.

Why it matters: Democrats are struggling to repair their image with voters after a bruising 2024 election that put President Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress.

• Democratic lawmakers are grappling — and in some cases, experimenting — with how best to respond to Trump's rapid, sweeping changes in the early days of his administration.

By the numbers: 57% of registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, the highest percentage since Quinnipiac started asking the question in 2008.

• 45% of voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party.

43% of voters have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, the highest since 2008.

• By contrast, 31% of registered voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party.
• That's the largest favorability advantage the GOP has had over the Democratic Party since 2008, according to Quinnipiac.

Between the lines: Democrats face an uphill climb. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS earlier this month found that 70% of U.S. adults would describe themselves as disappointed with today's politics.

• The same CNN poll found that 58% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say that the party needs major changes or to be completely reformed.

Reality check: The Republican Party had worse numbers during much of the first year of Trump's first term than what Democrats are seeing now.

• The percentage of voters with an unfavorable view of the Republican Party hovered around 60% in 2017, with a peak of 67% in August, according to Quinnipiac.

Go deeper: Dems warm to conservative media after rough 2024

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is aiming to be the first Republican in decades to sponsor major, pro-union labor reform, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: GOP leaders see an opportunity for a new, working-class coalition, which includes more union outreach. It's a major shift, and fault lines are already forming over President Trump's pro-labor Cabinet nominee, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

Zoom in: Hawley has been quietly circulating draft legislation that would prevent employers from stalling union contract negotiations — keeping the process to months, not years, according to a copy obtained by Axios.

• He is looking for a Democratic co-sponsor.
• The senator pitched his bill at a dinner Tuesday night with Teamsters president Sean O'Brien and a small group of Republican senators — Roger Marshall of Kansas, Jim Banks of Indiana, and Ohio's Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, sources familiar said.
• "We look forward to advancing meaningful legislation for working people this Congress," Hawley's office told Axios.

Zoom out: The effort comes as some Republicans express hesitancy about Chavez-DeRemer.

• Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told NBC News he is not going to support her, "I think she'll lose 15 Republicans," Paul said, describing her as "very pro-labor."
• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told NBC News he found the nomination "concerning."
• But she is expected to pick up Democratic support, including from fellow Oregonian Sen. Jeff Merkley, who told local reporters of his plans to back her.

What they're saying: Others in the party see the nomination as a way for Republicans to win over more of the historically Democratic union voting bloc.

• Chavez-DeRemer's nomination "came about by Sean [O'Brien] and I working together with the President," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told Axios. He said she is the "perfect balance" as a former Republican lawmaker and strong pro-labor voice.
• Mullin and O'Brien have become friends after going viral for challenging each other to a fight mid-hearing.
• "I think the Republican Party is expanding. I think a lot of that's due to President Trump, and I think that that she should be a solid nomination," Marshall told Axios. He also expressed willingness to back pro-union legislation.

Thought bubble: The particular issue of firms delaying contract negotiations has become a huge issue, Axios Markets co-author Emily Peck notes.

• Unionized workers at Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joe's have all been stuck trying to negotiate first contracts with their employers — deep-pocketed corporations who are fighting to avoid these deals.

Tesla plans to launch its robotaxi business and pilot production of its humanoid robot in 2025, the company said Wednesday.

Why it matters: CEO Elon Musk has described self-driving car services as critical to the company's future.

Driving the news: Musk said on an earnings call that the company is "confident" it will launch "unsupervised" full-self-driving cars "as a paid service" in Austin, Texas, in June.

• He predicted the company would also launch robotaxi services in California this year, plus other U.S. markets.
• Tesla's "supervised" FSD — a partially autonomous driving system requiring occasional driver intervention — "continues to rapidly improve with the aim of ultimately exceeding human levels of safety," the company said in its earnings report.
• Tesla said its Cybercab — a vehicle with no steering wheel built to serve as a robotaxi — will begin "volume production starting in 2026."

Between the lines: Tesla also said Wednesday it remains committed to delivering "more affordable models," with production set to begin on these electric vehicles in the first half of 2025.

• "These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up," the company said.

By the numbers: In the fourth quarter, Tesla's revenue rose 2% compared with a year earlier to $25.7 billion, falling short of S&P Capital IQ's estimate of $27.1 billion.

• Its net income fell 71% to $2.3 billion, in line with S&P's estimate.
• Tesla shares jumped over 4% in after hours trading.

Tesla analysts are more focused on the company's future ambitions — including the development of its Optimus humanoid — than its past financial performance, according to Evercore ISI analyst Chris McNally.

• Musk said the company will make at least several thousand Optimus robots in 2025, adding that their initial use will be for tasks inside Tesla factories.
• Eventually, "Optimus will be able to play the piano and thread a needle," he said.

Editor's note: This article was updated with further information from Tesla's earnings call.

President Trump on Wednesday settled a lawsuit that will require Meta to pay about $25 million, most of which will fund a presidential library, multiple outlets reported and a source familiar confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: Meta shut down Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts for about two years after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. However, since Trump's reelection, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has cozied up to the new administration.

• $22 million will go toward a fund for Trump's presidential library, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the deal. The rest will go toward legal fees and individual plaintiffs.
• Boris Epshteyn, Trump's attorney, did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Flashback: Trump's Facebook and Instagram profiles were reinstated in early 2023 and subsequently subject to stricter penalties than other users for more than a year.

• His account on Twitter, now X, was also suspended after the Capitol riot.

State of play: Zuckerberg attended Trump's inauguration and donated $1 million to the inaugural fund.

• He also traveled to Mar-a-Lago in November to meet with Trump after the election.

Go deeper: Everything's coming up Zuck

OpenAI said on Wednesday that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's open-source models may have "inappropriately" based its work on the output of OpenAI's models, an OpenAI spokesperson told Axios.

Why it matters: China's DeepSeek has taken the AI industry by storm with its R1 reasoning model that competes with OpenAI's o1, but at what the company says is a fraction of the cost and with fewer resources.

Driving the news: OpenAI told Axios that it had seen some evidence of "distillation" from groups based in China to try to replicate advanced U.S. AI models.

• "We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more," an OpenAI spokesperson said.
• "We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the U.S. government to protect the most capable models being built here," the spokesperson added.

Zoom in: Distillation is a a common technique developers use to train smaller AI models to replicate the performance of larger, more complex models by training the smaller models on the output of the larger models.

• Developers can use distillation legitimately to improve their own applications, but OpenAI's terms of use outline that they do not allow users to use outputs from their models to develop other AI models that compete with their products and services.

What they're saying: President Trump's AI czar David Sacks said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday that "it is possible" that intellectual property theft had occurred.

• "There's substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled knowledge out of OpenAI models and I don't think OpenAI is very happy about this," he said.
• "I think one of the things you're going to see over the next few months is our leading AI companies taking steps to try and prevent distillation … that would definitely slow down some of these copycat models," he added.

Between the lines: AI makers have long been dogged by controversies over their use of "publicly available" data to train their models.

• OpenAI has been sued by The New York Times and other news publishers and creators over claims that the AI maker infringed copyrights in training its models without permission or payment.

Catch up quick: DeepSeek helped wipe out nearly $600 billion in market cap for Nvidia Monday, as its cost-effective AI approach sparked fears that it could reduce the reliance on Nvidia's advanced chips.

Go deeper: Altman calls DeepSeek's R1 "impressive" and promises better models

The Laken Riley Act is the first bill President Trump signed into law Wednesday after returning to office — an early victory for his immigration policy agenda.

Why it matters: The new law will require the detention of undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes such as theft. Federal immigration officials have warned it could impact 60,000 people.

• Trump has vowed his administration will zero in on immigration and border security after Republicans for four years decried the Biden administration's approach to border security.

What is the Laken Riley Act?

The Laken Riley Act requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain certain non-U.S. nationals who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.

• It also authorizes states to sue the federal government for "decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement," per the bill text.

Zoom in: The bill is named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year while jogging by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been arrested on theft charges. The Venezuelan man convicted of killing Riley has been sentenced to life in prison.

• Republicans frequently pointed to Riley's death as evidence of the need for stronger border policies.

Bipartisan support

The bill received bipartisan support and quickly was on track to be the first one passed out of the 119th Congress.

• It was one of a dozen pieces of legislation listed in the House GOP's rules package that passed this month, allowing it to be voted on under a streamlined process.
• The House previously passed the bill last March, with 37 Democrats voting in favor of it. But it did not get a vote in the then-Democratic Senate.

Where it stands: The bill passed the House last week 263-156, with 46 Democrats voting for it.

• 48 Democrats had voted for an earlier version of the bill this month, before the Senate added two amendments.
• One of the additions would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain any undocumented immigrants accused of assaulting a law enforcement officer.
• After adding the two amendments, the Senate passed the measure on Jan. 20 in a 64-35 vote, with 12 Democrats voting for it.

ICE warning about Laken Riley Act enforcement

ICE warned Congress that the Laken Riley Act could require detention for 60,000 people, and that the agency would need billions of dollars and thousands more detention beds to comply with the law, Axios reported.

• The agency said that without emergency funding, they could be forced to release tens of thousands of immigrants, including potentially some deemed to be public safety threats.
• The Laken Riley Act does not include money for enforcing the new detention requirements.

Reality check: Less than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in immigration courts during the past fiscal year — involving about 8,400 people — included deportation orders for alleged crimes other than entering the U.S. illegally, an Axios review of government data found.

• The federal government has prioritized deporting immigrants with criminal records since the Obama administration, Amy Maldonado, an immigration lawyer in Michigan, tells Axios.
• Study after study has indicated that immigrants — those in the U.S. legally or undocumented — commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens, Axios' Russell Contreras reports.

More from Axios:

• ICE warns Laken Riley Act could force it to release detained migrants
• House passes immigration crackdown as first act of 2025
• Scoop: Schumer's private signals on Laken Riley Act